Preparation of staple fibers for spinning



Aug. ze; 1941.

PREPARATION 0F STAPLE FIBER FOR SPINNING Filed March-25, (i939 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOQ. WHITWORTH FONTAINE BIRD BY WW ATTORNEY.

w. F. BIRD l 2,254,0'58

ugrzs 1941. w. F. BIRD l v '2,254,058

PREPARATION OF STAPLE FIBER FOR SPINNING Filed March 25, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 lNvENToQ. l wHlTworzTl-s FONTAINE BIRD @ffl/5" ATTORNEY.

Patented Aug. 26, 1941 Whitworth Fontaine Bird, Wallingford, Pa., assignor to Collins & Aikman Corporation, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Delaware Application March 25, 1939, Serial No. 264,170

17 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of and apparatus for the production of staple fibers from continuous filaments such as silk, rayon and casein wool. It has particular reference to forming staple fibers of any desired length and deliv- .ering them in continuous form from a single apparatus. The concept of the invention comprises the production of a sliver in a form suitable for necessary subsequent operations preparatory to the final spinning of yarns or threads all of one fiber or blends of different fibers. The invention may be carried out by new apparatus or by modifying present textile equipment.

The production of staple fiber from continuous filaments has been carried out in several ways;

for example, it is known to cut the filaments at regular intervals and then to make this cut staple into a so-called spun yarn by subjecting it to substantially the steps involved in crimping, carding and the like. V'I'hese operations are relatively expensive, and in the case of carding result in breaking of many of the fibers and irregularity of the ultimate product.

It is further known to pass continuous iilaments successively through two pairs of breaking rollers, the second vpair of which is rotated at a higher peripheral speed so as to stretch the filaments beyond their breaking points. The fibrous material so produced is then twisted continuously with its breaking operation into the final yarn by means of a filer or like spinning unit. This second method produces staple liber of various lengths and introduces difiiculties of control of the fibers broken by the pairs of breaking rollers. Relatively few filaments can simultaneously be reduced to staple fiber by a single mechanism using this method. l

Continuous filaments are sometimes drawn from spinnerettes having thousands of orifices. I may combine these continuous filaments in stock batts of a size comparable to those used in the combing of card stock on the Worsted system when made up for combing on a Noble comb.

My concept of invention includes within its scope Vthe positioning of uncarded staple fibers on a retaining means, such as a comb, in any convenient manner and progressively drawing off the staple in overlapping fiber lengths. 1

More specifically this invention includes a method and an apparatus for producing staple fibers in continuous form by feeding a relatively large mass of continuous filaments to a holding means and forming staple fibers while the ends of the continuous filaments are retained in the the staple fibers from the holding means, the rate `of drawing ofi being such that each fiber length overlaps with other fiber lengths as the drawing oil' progresses. To perform this function I provide a relative transverse motion between thel holding or retaining means and the drawing off means. 'I'he holding means may be circular and comprise a series of pin circles. 'I'he stock may be dabbed into these circles so that the ends of the vstock lay transversely thereof and overhang the inner periphery. When the stock is introduced into the pin circles at a desired fiber length the drawing off may be done by rotating the pin circle so that the projecting ends of the fibers `will engage a drawing off device as the pins rotate with their base. Cut staple may be introduced into the pin circles manually. A false twist or a twisting device may be positioned forwardly of the drawing off device to form a sliver or roving. A steam system as on present day combs may be employed.

An object of the present invention is to provide fibers, which have been produced from continuous filaments, in continuous form.

Another object of the invention is to provide staple fibers in continuous form without passing the fibers through the steps of crimping or carding.

Another object of the present invention is toy provide a sliver of artificial staple fiber so that it may be conveniently handled in subsequent operations, including blending with other fibers.

Another object of this invention is to provide a combined feeding, cuttingand comb assembly for the production of staple fiber in rope form.

These and other objects of invention will be manifest from aconsideration of the following description and ac'ompanying drawings, .in which:

Figure I is a top plan view of an apparatus on which my invention may be practiced.

Figure II is a side elevation showing a slack provider, a stock guide, a stock box and a comb retaining means.

Figure III is a detailed view of the feeding means.

Figure IV denotes a flier for putting twists in the drawn off stock after it reaches the drawing off means.

Referring first to Figure I, a rotatable portion, generally depicted as I0, carries a number of batts Il of continuous filaments, which are divided into sections which pass through holes iny guide plate I2 and then throughopen end feed holding means, and then progressively drawing boxes I3, the stock, guide plates and boxes completely encompassing the periphery of the comb circles I4, which comprise groups of pin circles I5 and I6. Between said groups and acting against a resilient track portion I'IA of the base I'I is a rotatable or other cutter I8 for severing the ends of the continuous filaments as the portion` I rotates. The cutter may be driven from a suitable source of power and may be in any convenient design.

Dabber brush I9 is positioned adjacent the inwardly and downwardly inclined smooth plate 20,

, and both the brush and the plate are above the rotating pin circles I and I6. The dabber brush during operation is rapidly reciprocated vertically and its function is to force the ends of stock down into the pin circles as the said ends laterally pass from the fixed plate 20. y

It is to be understood that the cutter I8, dabber brush I9 and plate 20 do not rotate with the stock il, guide plate I2, boxes I3 and pin circles I5 and i6, all of which latter are comprised in rotatable portion I0. The rapid reciprocation of the dabber brush permits long life of the brush and minimizes the effect of the pins moving transversely therethrough. If desired, a shear cutter may be driven from the dabber brush.

Bifurcated knife 2 I, Figures I and III, together with the boxes I3 and cam'22, constitute feeding means. Stock II is somewhatcrowded in its passage through the boxes and will not slip back. The boxes` I3 ride on cam 22 and are pivoted as at l23. The top 24 of the boxes is pivoted at 25 and acts as a weight on the filaments to hold them somewhat firmly so that they cannot slip backward unless the lid is open. The knife 2| is mounted on a fixed portion 26 of the machine and has a convenient adjustment at 2l. As the stock rotates it passes under this xed knife 2i and cam 22 raises the boxes I3 to take up the slack between the box and the stock batt II.

Prior to -the lifting of the boxes` I3 a slack producing means, Figure 1I insures suic'ient slack to ,avoid feeding against a drag occasioned by the weight of the batt. This is accomplished by providing a fixed cam 28 which actuates bell crank lever 29 pivoted at 30, and on one end of which is a pivoted weighted ratchet engaging pawl 3i and pawl stop 32.

The stock batt iI rests on rotatable smooth roller 33 and corrugated roller 34 on shafts 35 and 3S respectively. Integral with the corrugated roller 34 is a ratchet 31 advanced as required. by cam 28 through pawl 3 I.

Referring again to Figure 1 fixed cams 38 positioned between rows of pins in the outer circle i5 lift the ends of stock from the pins and permit them to slide on smooth plate 2@ so that they overhang the innermost portion of the pin circles. After leaving the smooth inclined plate, the ends are again dabbed into the pin circles by' the dabber brush, as hereinbefore described, where they are positioned for cutting into staple fibers. The protruding ends are designated 39. It will be seen that the forward ends of' these iibers will overhang their supports substantially equally and that substantially all of the fibers will be drawn off. v

As the comb rotates it passes a suitably driven fixed take up device which engages the overhanging ends of the bers and progressively draws them oii against the drag of the pins to a point where they are combined by a false twist device With the portion drawn 0E from the duplicate mechanism on the other side of the apparatus.

'I'he take up mechanism comprises a driven fluted roller 40 rotating in conjunction with a. leather apron 4I. Apron 4I passes about smooth roller 42. A fluted roller 43 cooperates with the vfluted roller 40 and the apron 4I to form a nip `and to pass the stock between apron 44 which is looped about the rollers 45 and 46 and the apron 4I. The aprons 4I and 44 deliver the stock to a false twist device or trumpet 41 to form it into a sliver 48.

A spinning unit such as the filer 49 may be used in conjunction with the false twist device or in lieu thereof, depending on the particular characteristics of the stock being handled. If, for example, the stock be casein wool it can be handled in a manner equivalent to present methods for producing slivers on conventional combs. lt is not essential to the present concept that the stock from both sides ,of the machine be combined and twist may be put intoA the stock as it leaves the drawing off aprons on one side.

In the illustrated Iembodiment, the flier 49 combines the drawn oil stock from both drawing off means. The stock first passes through a condensing means 50 before being twisted and wound on the bobbin 5I, which is driven in any con- Venient manner.

It will be seen that the above described apparatus and process provides a sliver of cut staple fiber from continuous filaments in regular and uninjured form, that the individual fibers Will not he stuck together and that by care being exercised in introducing the ends of the continuous filaments through the combs a sliver of extreme evenness will be produced. This evenness of the sliver will result in a reduction in the number of subsequent iinishing steps and an improvement in the regularity in. the case of blending.

It is well known that according to the worsted method the large number of gillings and drawings ar.e made-primarily with the view of obtaining an evenness in the final product. It is of course understood that the term continuous laments" as used herein does not mean continuous or endless in the sense of a closed circle, but on the other hand in the present disclosure it is intended to define the filaments in the form in. which they leave the spinning bath, as in the production of rayon. It is further to be understood that this invention contemplates the use of any convenient slack producing or feeding apparatus, end that the feeding apparatus ymay be such as to compensate for the decrease in diameter ofthe supply batt.

' Operation At the beginning of a run the stock rests on the corrugated and smooth rollers and passes up through the guide plates and boxes to overhang the inner periphery of the pin circle. Considering the smooth plate as a starting point, the ends of the filaments as they leave this plate are dabbed under the pins which retain them so that the vfibers pass in the path of the cutter. The out iibers positioned in the inner group of pin circles are. drawn oi as they pass the take o device and the ends of the continuous filaments are retained by the pin circles of the outer group. The ends of the continuous filaments retained in the outer group of pin circles pass under the knife and the boxes are elevated. The elevation of the boxes takes up slack which exists between the boxes and the bulk of stock resting on the rollers. If the slack is insunlcient,

the knife and boxes will draw from the stock until a sulcient advance has been made to produce the desired length cut staple.

After the feeding step, the ends of the continuous laments are cammed out of the pin circles on to the smooth plate where they can slip inwardly yand downwardly so that the ends will again overhang the inner periphery of the retaining means. The operation is then repeated. Having described my ,invention in a preferred embodiment, and intending only to be limited by the scope of the following, I claim:

1. An apparatus for the production of staple ber in continuous form comprising means for feeding continuous laments, cutting means for reducing the end portions of the continuous laments to staple ber, a drawing off device, a retaining means comprising a plurality of pins,

said retaining means and drawing off device be-l ing relatively transversely movable during operation, whereby the staple ber will rbe drawn acterized by a slack provider means auxiliary to 'the feeding means and that the feeding means comprises a xed feed knife, a pivoted stock box and 1 la cam for elevating the stock box about its p vo 6. In an apparatus for preparing staple ber for spinning, feeding means, holding means for the staple ber, a cutting means between the front of the holding means and the feeding means, a drawing ofi' mechanism and means for moving the holding means relatively to and transversely of the drawing off means, said holding means comprising a plurality of pins which combs the bers as they are drawn o.

7. An apparatus for the production of staple bers in rope-like form comprising means for feeding continuous laments, means for reducing the end portions of the continuous laments to staple bers, a drawing off device having a nip, retaining means in which the staple bers lie substantially side by side with protruding ends and approach thetnip of the drawing off means substantially laterally; and means for relatively moving the retaining means past the nip of the drawing of!v device, whereby the staple bers will be engaged by the nip and all of the bers will be drawn from their retaining means substantially progressively.

8. In' the combination set forth in claim '1.

further characterized in the provision of a condensing means for the drawn off bers.

9. In the combination set forth in claim '7, further characterized in the provision of a twisting device for the drawn off bers.

1o. An apparatus for the production of staple bers in continuous or rope-like form comprising means for feeding continuous laments, cutting means for reducing the end portions of the continuous laments to staple bers, a drawing oiI devicev having a nip, retaining-means in which 75 the staple bers lie substantially side by side with protruding ends and approach the nip of thev drawing off means substantially laterally; and means for relatively moving the retaining means past the nip of the drawing oif device, whereby the staple bers will be engaged bythe nip and all of the bers will be drawn from their retaining means substantially progressively.

1l. An` apparatus for the production of staple bers in continuous form comprising means for feeding continuous laments, cuttingl means for reducing the end portions of the continuous laments to staple bers, a drawing off device having a nip, an annular 'retaining means in which the staple bers lie substantially side by side with protruding ends and approach the nip of the drawing oif means substantially laterally; and means for relatively rotating said annular retaining means past the nip of the drawing ofi' device, whereby the staple bers will be engaged by the. nip and all of the bers will be drawn from their retaining means substantially progressively.

12. An apparatus for the production`of staple bers in continuous form from large masses of continuous laments comprising means for feeding the mass of continuous laments, an annular retaining means, cutting means positioned outwardly of the inside of the annular retaining means to cut theend portions of the continuous laments so as to form staple bers, a drawing off' device, said drawing oi! device being relatively movable to the annular retaining means across its periphery during operation, wherebythe staple bers will bel drawn from their retaining means substantially progressively.

13. In the ycombination set forth in claim 1,

.further characterized in that the retaining means is annular and that the pins are positioned so that the staple bers may be retained in a side by side position about the retaining means.

14. In an apparatus for preparing staple ber for spinning, feeding means, drag producing'holding means for the staple ber, a cutting means between the front of the holding means and the feeding means, a drawing oif mechanism and means for moving the holding means and the bers relatively to and substantially laterally of the drawing off means as the bers approach the drawing o! device in the horizontal plane of the staple bers.

15. In a method for the production of staple ber in continuous form from stock that has not been carded, the steps which consist in positioning uncarded staple bers of substantially equal length side by side so that the forward ends of the bers are in substantial alignment with each other. providing a retaining drag for the uncardedstaple bers, moving the positioned bers substantially sidewise, progressively drawing off substantially all of the retained bers longitudinally as they are moved and approach the drawing off point substantially sidewise, the'rate'of wise, progressively drawing o substantially all of the retained cut ends longitudinally as they are moved and approach the drawing off point substantially sidewise, the rate of drawing oh'- being such thateach cut end length overlaps with other cut end lengths, whereby a continuous sliver of staple ibers will be formed.

17. In a method for the production of staple fibers in continuous form from stock that has not been carded, the steps which consist in feeding continuous filaments side by side in a circular path, cutting the ends of the continuous laments to form staple bers, providing a retainrate of drawing o1! being such that each staple ber length overlaps with other staple ber lengths and then releasing the ends of continu- 10 ous laments.

WHITWORTH FONTAINE BIRD. 

